“Video advertising is the fastest-growing of all the sub-sectors of advertising and we’re fortunate to find ourselves right in the cross-hairs,” the boss of video search engine Blinkx declared today as he unveiled an eightfold leap in annual profits to $17.7 million (£11.5 million).

S Brian Mukherjee said revenues that were up 73% to $198 million showed online video was finally coming of age thanks to broadband and smartphones, nearly a decade after London-listed Blinkx was founded. He also boosted profits by slashing operating costs.

Mukherjee said the rise of Google’s video giant, YouTube, “has helped to validate this sector”. The difference is that Blinkx offers brands the chance to advertise against only professionally-produced video, not user-generated content from the public.

Blinkx’s share price has been on a roller coaster after the company failed to match analysts’ earlier hopes but the stock has more than doubled in the last year.